Development Co-operation Profiles

European Union institutions

Introduction

The European Union (EU) – EU institutions and member states together – accounts for the largest share of total official development assistance (ODA) among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and has a development co-operation presence in all regions and across all sectors. The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) manage funding among the EU institutions, with a focus on providing general budget support. The European External Action Service co-ordinates foreign policy. The EU institutions’ total ODA (USD 26.9 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023.

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

In 2017, the European Union and its member states adopted the New European Consensus for Development as a common strategic vision. The European Commission aims to be “geopolitical” and better align external and internal policies. While active across all regions and sectors, co-operation priorities include partnerships with Africa and the European neighbourhood, the European Green Deal, sustainable growth, migration, governance, and promoting the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. The Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 has established new instruments, including the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, which has earmarked EUR 79.5 billion for co-operation for 2021-27. The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance III incentivises political and economic reforms. The Global Gateway describes the joint EU approach to infrastructure financing.

The European Union places a renewed importance on the multilateral system with the 2021 Joint Communication on strengthening the European Union’s contribution to rules-based multilateralism. At the international level, it plays an important convening and leadership role in advocating for sustainable development. In 2022, the European Commission presented an EU Global Health Strategy. The European Union is a leader in promoting policy coherence for sustainable development and supports coherence across member states. The 2021 Better Regulation initiative also requires impact assessments to consider the impact of EU regulation on developing countries.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

Inequality is a prominent priority theme in the European Union’s development co-operation. The Directorate-General for International Partnerships primarily focuses on vertical/income inequality. Horizontal dimensions such as gender equality are also considered external priorities guiding EU ODA. The European Union has a range of strategies and detailed guidance on reducing inequalities, while an extensive research agenda has been developed in partnership with other international development agencies. The European Union developed an Inequality Marker to assess the degree to which development interventions target reducing inequality as their principal objective. Poverty reduction is also a priority goal for EU development co-operation: it is enshrined as one of the primary objectives in the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and reaffirmed as the primary objective of EU ODA in the European Consensus on Development. However, it is less visible than inequality in the European Union’s detailed strategies and implementation processes.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2022 OECD-DAC mid-term review praised the European Union’s major reform for establishing a range of new instruments with robust results frameworks and a focus on climate change, gender and poverty. The review also commended efforts to work closely with member states in organising a strong COVID response, including with “Team Europe”, and noted the important role the European Union plays in supporting policy coherence for sustainable development. The European Union could make further progress in addressing cumbersome procedures and pursuing a more coherent financial architecture. The review noted the structural challenges in increasing resources to least developed countries (LDCs). Learn more about the European Union’s 2022 mid-term review [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/25] and the 2018 peer review.

ODA allocation overview

The EU institutions provided USD 26.9 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 24.8 billion in constant terms.1 This was an increase of 10% in real terms in volume from 2022. The EU institutions and member states have committed to collectively achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Over the next years, the bulk of the EU’s ODA will stem from the new “Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe”, with an envelope of EUR 79.5 billion for 2021-27. Within the EU institutions’ ODA portfolio in 2022, 57.3% was provided in the form of grants and 42.7% in the form of non-grants.2

The EU institutions rank 3rd among all DAC members in terms of ODA volume as a grant equivalent. The EU institutions provide almost exclusively bilateral aid, but the share of multilateral funding increased significantly in 2022. The EU allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 74.9% for Ukraine) 46.6% of gross bilateral ODA. In 2022, the EU’s top ten recipients received 51.7% of gross bilateral disbursements.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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The EU institutions is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	98.2
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		92.3	91.5
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	84.6	75.5

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

The EU institutions provided almost all of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 99.9% of total ODA disbursements. Twenty-one per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). The EU institutions allocated 0.1% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, the EU institutions provided USD 20.5 billion (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, a 77.8% increase from 2022 in real terms. USD 443.4 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance in 2023, a 43.6% increase from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, the EU institutions provided USD 6.4 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 32.9% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 16.6 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 6.39 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 84.3% of the EU institutions’ non-core contributions, and 15.7% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Sixty-six per cent of the EU institutions’ total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to the UN system and earmarked funding through EU Institutions.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 48% of the EU institutions’ multilateral contributions, all of which (USD 3.1 billion) were earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 3.1 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the EU institutions’ support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 529.5 million), UNDP (USD 406.2 million) and the IOM (USD 406 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, the EU institutions’ bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 30.5 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 36.2% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 58.6% of the EU institutions’ gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average (excluding the EU institutions) of 42%. The EU institutions reports less than 5% of ODA as refugee costs.

The EU institutions disbursed USD 15.5 million for triangular co-operation in 2022. Its regional priority is Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on general environmental protection. Learn more about triangular co-operation.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, the EU institutions channelled bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 7.8% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 2.6 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 12% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, no bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions, while 8.5% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 11.4% to 8.5%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, the EU institutions’ bilateral ODA was primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 14.2 billion was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 74.9% was to Ukraine) and USD 6.5 billion to Africa, accounting for 46.6% and 21.4% of gross bilateral ODA respectively. USD 2.4 billion was allocated to Asia. Africa was also the main regional recipient of the EU institutions’ earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, in line with the policy priorities of the overall and multilateral strategy.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 51.7% of gross bilateral ODA went to the EU institutions’ top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mainly in its Eastern and Southern neighbourhood, in line with its focus on its immediate neighbourhood and its policy priorities. Ukraine was its top recipient. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 24.7%, of which 0% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, least developed countries received 12.5% of EU Institutions’ gross bilateral ODA (USD 3.8 billion). The EU institutions allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (46.8%) to lower middle-income countries in 2022, noting that 24.7% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, the EU institutions allocated 8.3% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 2.5 billion. The EU institutions allocated 0.8% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states in 2022, equal to USD 253.1 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 5.3 billion in 2022, representing 17.2% of the EU institutions’ gross bilateral ODA. Twenty-eight point six per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, increasing from 27.4% in 2021, while 15.5% was allocated to peace, decreasing from 18.1% in 2021. Five point three per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 7.2% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest focus of the EU institutions’ bilateral ODA was ‘other’ sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 37.9% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 12.4 billion) with a strong focus on support to general budget support (USD 8.9 billion), other multisector (USD 2.3 billion) and administrative costs of donors (USD 982.4 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 9.2 billion, focusing on government & civil society (USD 3.9 billion). USD 1.1 billion was committed to health and population in 2022, accounting for 3.3% of gross bilateral ODA, and representing a 34.2% increase from 2019 in real terms. Economic infrastructure and services amounted to USD 5.9 billion (17.9% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on social sectors and humanitarian assistance in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, the EU institutions disbursed USD 4.9 billion in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 7.1 billion in 2021.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, the EU institutions committed 58.8% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (up from 57.9% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 12.3 billion of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 2.1% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• The EU institutions include gender equality objectives in 11.4% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• The EU institutions screen the majority of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (89.2% in 2021-22).

• The EU institutions committed USD 55 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 60.3 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, the EU institutions committed 33.4% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 7.3 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 29.2% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Ten per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Thirty per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 6.6 billion) focused on climate change overall, up from 24.7% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). The EU institutions had a greater focus on mitigation (29.2%) than on adaptation (25%) in 2021-22.

• Seven per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.4 billion) focused on biodiversity overall, down from 8.2% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	7 282.3	37.4
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	1 402.6	7.2
Desertification	890.9	4.6
Climate change mitigation only	1 712.7	7.9
Climate change adaptation only	909.8	4.2
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	3 957.5	18.1

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that the EU institutions committed USD 260.6 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 215.4 million more than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 1.1% of the EU institutions’s bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, the EU institutions also:

• Committed USD 48.3 million of bilateral ODA to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries, amounting to 0.2% of its bilateral allocable aid. Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, the EU institutions generally seek exemptions. It does not have a general policy and it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 7.9 billion (33.7% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2022.

• Committed USD 1.2 billion (5% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, other multisector and health.

• Committed USD 7.2 billion (30.6% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

The EU institutions uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, The EU institutions, including the European Commission, the European Development Fund and the European Investment Bank, mobilised USD 6.9 billion from the private sector through credit lines, shares in collective investment vehicles, syndicated loans, guarantees, direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles and simple co-financing. This constituted a 23.1% decrease compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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A share of 51.4% targeted middle-income countries and 3.7% the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 44.9% was unallocated by income.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Mobilised private finance by the EU institutions in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in banking & financial Services (54.6%), as its top sector. Furthermore, 30.5% of total mobilised private finance by the EU institutions over this period was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, the European Investment Bank extended USD 1.7 billion in the form of private sector instruments (PSI) to developing countries. Of this, loans accounted for 86.9%, whereas equities represented 13.1%.

 

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In 2022, USD 8 million (0.5%) of the EU Institutions’ private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, a majority (56.6%) went to middle-income countries and UMICs in particular (43.1%). Moreover, USD 751.4 million was unallocated by income. The EU Institutions’ private sector instruments mostly supported projects in banking and financial services (45.2%) and energy (33.4%).

 

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Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries’ participation in the exercise as well as their progress is available at the Global Dashboard. The EU institutions’ results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high-quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, the European Union’s reporting in 2022 was on time, with room to improve in terms of the completeness and the accuracy of the data. 

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broader measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by the EU institutions as TOSSD totalled USD 48.1 billion, up from USD 38.2 billion in 2021, and the EU institutions’s TOSSD activities in support of sustainable development mostly targeted SDG 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development, SDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation and SDG 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The EU institutions are comprised of two main actors: the European Commission (responsible for managing the majority of funds) and the EIB. Within the European Commission, the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA, previously DEVCO) is in charge of formulating the European Union’s overall international co-operation and development policy, and covers co-operation with sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) manages co-operation with EU neighbours to the east and south. The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) is responsible for humanitarian assistance. The EIB operates with its own resources and through specific Commission mandates with EU development funds. The European External Action Service (EEAS) co-ordinates the European Union’s foreign policy, participates in co-operation programming and manages the EU delegations. To co-ordinate their actions, all EU institutions as well as EU member states have signed “The New European Consensus on Development” and are working together as “Team Europe”.

DG INTPA has 3 600 staff, 1 250 (34.7%) of which are based in Brussels and 2 350 (65.3%) of which are in delegations in non-EU countries. DG NEAR has 1 650 staff based in Brussels. DG ECHO has 900 staff, half of which are based in Brussels with the other half in 45 offices abroad. The EEAS has 2 000 (46.5%) staff in Brussels and 2 300 (53.5%) in EU delegations globally.

 

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An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is public consultations on policy initiatives. The European Economic and Social Committee provides opinions on the European Union’s external relations. The European Development Days are a large annual forum that brings together stakeholders across Europe to discuss challenges for sustainable development. CSOs active in development co-operation and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body CONCORD and those for humanitarian assistance through the organisation VOICE.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of the EU institutions’ development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of the EU institutions’ systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Quality assurance is managed by experts in European Union (EU) delegations. Large units of thematic experts support the programming and design phases based on detailed guidance and toolkits. Approval of programmes by EU member states is an additional level of quality control.
Risk management	The European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank Group jointly produce recovery and peacebuilding assessments to inform engagement in contexts emerging from conflict or political crisis. The pillar assessment allows the European Union to manage fiduciary risk for select institutions so that they don’t have to repeat diligence requirements every time they implement EU projects.
Innovation and adaptation	The Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) implements a portfolio of innovation and digitalisation-focused programmes, mainly managed by its STI and Digitalisation Unit. This is aligned with the Digitalisation4Development strategy, which focuses on digital innovation. The portfolio includes programmes to advance innovation for agricultural productivity and programmes on digital governance, policy and regulatory frameworks, and affordable and secure broadband connectivity.
Results management	To operationalise the Global Europe Results Framework, the European Commission created a web platform to guide results chains and indicators and enable comparability and aggregation. Its new IT system OPSYS – used since 2023 to report on global results – encodes all logframes and uses standard indicators to ensure results data are available for all projects, programmes and corporate reporting. A new Results Dashboard was also developed to aggregate and visualise all results data from OPSYS in a user-friendly way. New forms of outcome-based financing are being piloted.
Evaluation	A dedicated unit in DG INTPA is in charge of evaluating the European Union’s co-operation and development programmes. The unit manages centralised geographical and thematic evaluations, which are conducted by external evaluators, as well as evaluations of instruments. Programme and project evaluations are decentralised but supported and co-ordinated by this unit. DG NEAR and DG ECHO, as well as the European Investment Bank oversee evaluations of their respective operations. Read more about the EU institutions’ evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre website for evaluations of the EU institutions’ development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	The International Partnerships Academy e-learning platform provides free access to a range of development topics for both staff and the wider public.
Communication and transparency	The European Commission is developing a dedicated communication strategy with Team Europe actors to communicate on its external brand: Global Gateway. The campaign seeks to change the narrative to one of partnership between peoples, with a focus on joint investment in a shared future rather than on aid.

Additional resources

2018 OECD-DAC peer review of the European Union: www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-european-union-2018-9789264309494-en.htm

European Commission, International Cooperation and Development: https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships

European Commission, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/node_en

European Commission, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations: https://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en

European External Action Service: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en

European Investment Bank (EIB): https://www.eib.org/en/index.htm

CSO umbrella organisation Concord – European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs: https://concordeurope.org

CSO umbrella organisation VOICE – Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies: https://voiceeu.org

EU institutions’ practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=european+union#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1961.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.